1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-invasive method and device to monitor cardiac parameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At the present time anesthetics, (drugs which induce loss of sensation) are often used for surgical operations. A general anesthetic generally causes a progressive depression of the central nervous system and induces the patient to lose consciousness. In contrast, a local anesthetic affects sensation at the region where it is applied.
Generally, prior to the operation, the patient is anesthetized by a specialized medical practitioner (“anesthesiologist”) who administers one or more volatile liquids or gases such as nitrous oxide, halothane, isoflurane, sevoflurane, desflurane, and etc. Alternatively, non-volatile sedative-hypnotic drugs such as pentothal, propofol, and etomidate may are administered by injection or intravenous infusion. Opioid analgesics like morphine, fentanyl, or sufenanil may likewise be administered by injection or infusion, to relieve pain by raising the pain sensation threshold.
Some of the objectives of a correctly administered general anesthetic are as follows: Firstly, the patient should be sufficiently anesthetized so that his/her movements are blocked. If the patient's movements are not sufficiently blocked, the patient may begin to “twitch” (involuntary muscle reflexes) during the operation, which may move or disturb the operating field that is an area being operated. Such blockage of movement occurs with a paralysis of the central nervous system after the sensory cortex is suppressed. The paralysis sequentially affects the basal ganglia, the cerebellum and then the spinal cord. The medulla, which controls respiratory, cardiac and vasomotor centers, is depressed by the anesthetic in a dose dependent fashion. When respiration is completely depressed by the anesthetic, it must be performed for the patient by the anesthesiologist, using either a rubber bag, or automatic ventilator.
Secondly, the patient should be sufficiently unconscious so as to feel no pain and be unaware of the operation. Patients have sued for medical malpractice because they felt pain during the operation or were aware of the surgical procedure. Once unconsciousness has been achieved, powerful depolarizing and non-depolarizing muscle relaxant drugs can be given to assure a quiescent undisturbed operating field for the surgeon.
Thirdly, the anesthesia should not be administered in an amount so as to lower blood pressure to the point where blood flow to the brain may be reduced to a dangerous extent to cause cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. The dangerous extent is generally below 50 mm Hg for mean arterial pressure (MAP). For example, if the blood pressure is too low for over 10 minutes, the patient may not regain consciousness. This critical pressure will vary with the patient's medical condition. In patients with hypertension, for example, the critical pressure below which injury can occur, is elevated.
A skilled anesthesiologist may monitor the vital signals such as breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure of the patient to determine if more or less anesthetic is required. Often, the anesthesiologist looks into the patient's eyes to determine the extent of the dilation of the pupils as an indication of the level or depth of the effect of the anesthesia. The depth is also called “plane of anesthesia.” However, there may be a number of problems with such complete reliance on the skill and attention of the anesthesiologist. In modern practice, the eyes are frequently taped shut to avoid abrasion or ulceration of the cornea of the eye. Since some operations may be prolonged for 10 to 15 hours, the attention of the anesthesia nurse or anesthesiologist may flag or fail. Therefore, it is important to provide a simple method to monitor the patient's state of the cardiovascular system.
The state or performance of the cardiovascular system can be described in terms of hemodynamic parameters. One such parameter is the cardiac output (CO). Much effort has been invested in non-invasive methods to measure the CO. (See Klein, G., M.D., Emmerich, M., M.D., Clinical Evaluation of Non-invasive Monitoring Aortic Blood Flow, (ABF) by a Transesophageal Echo-Doppler-Device. Anesthesiology 1998; V89 No. 3A: A953; Wallace, A. W., M.D, Ph.D., et.al., Endotracheal Cardiac Output Monitor, Anesthesiology 2000; 92:178–89). But the cardiac output is just a summary parameter or a final common result of many possible hemodynamic states. In clinical practice, fluid administration and vasoactive drug infusion therapy are not directed to changing the CO per se. Rather, they are directed to the CO's component parameters such as the heartrate (HR) and the Stroke Volume (SV). The relation among the HR, the SV and the CO is given byCO=HR[SV]  Eq. 1
The SV, in turn, is a function of three constituent parameters. The Preload (P) measures the “tension” in cardiovascular muscle at end diastole. The Afterload (A) measures the “resistance” to the blood outflow from the left ventricle. The Contractility (C) measures the rate of rising of the “strain” in cardiovascular muscle. SV increases with increasing P and C and decreases with increasing A. (See Braunwald, E., M.D., ed., Heart Disease, A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, Fourth Edition, Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1992, p. 420). In other words, the following relation holds.SV=f(P,A,C)  Eq. 2where f( ) is a predetermined function.
One way of looking at Eq. 2 is to understand that SV is a function of a vector in a three dimensional space. This vector is just (P,A,C). The axes of the vector space are mutually perpendicular and include P, A, and C. By Eq. 1, CO is linearly proportional to SV by the factor of HR. We can therefore understand that HR is scalar and operates on a vector in a three dimensional, hemodynamic vector space, H. Substituting Eq. 2 in Eq. 1, we haveCO=HR[f(P,A,C)]  Eq. 3
Every possible hemodynamic state in a given system is represented by a unique point in the (P,A,C) space and is scaled by HR. There is a subset of points within H, that are compatible with life. The subject is a physiologic hemodynamic vector subspace that we can call P. P is wholly contained in H. If we can track the position of the hemodynamic vector in this hemodynamic vector space, that is, follow its trajectory, then we can have fairly complete knowledge of what the effects of pharmacologic and fluid therapy are during the perioperative period. We can titrate fluids and diuretics, pressors and afterload reducers, anesthetics, inotropes and negative inotropes against a change in the position of the vector and its relative projection onto each of the three mutually perpendicular axes.
Preload, Afterload, and Contractility have been traditionally assessed by invasive methods. Preload has been approximated by Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure (PCWP), which is measured with a Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery balloon-tipped catheter that is wedged into the pulmonary arterial circulation. Preload has also been approximated by measuring the area of the left ventricle image at end-diastole with 2-D echocardiography. Afterload has been approximated using the Swan-Ganz catheter to perform thermodilution cardiac output measurements, and measurements of Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) and Central Venous Pressure (CVP) to calculate the Systemic Vascular Resistance. This is done in analogy with Ohm's law for electrical resistance. In clinical practice, Contractility is approximated as the cardiac ejection fraction. This requires the methods of nuclear medicine or 2D echocardiography. Alternatively, Contractility is approximated as the maximum rate of rise of left ventricular pressure (P) in systole. This is just the maximum value of the first derivative of pressure with respect to time during systolic ejection. That is, the approximation is dP/dt max. (See Braunwald, E., M.D., ed., Heart Disease, A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, Fourth Edition, Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1992, p. 431). Measuring dP/dt max requires catheterization of the left ventricle. This hazardous and arrythmogenic procedure is usually reserved for the cardiac catheterization lab.
Swan-Ganz catheters are invasive. Invasion is the occasion of clinical mischief. Most experienced clinicians understand this in a visceral way. Pulmonary artery rupture, hemo-pneumothorax, pulmonary infarcts, bacterial endocarditis, large vein thrombosis, and intraventricular knotting are just a few of the well-known complications that result from using this device. Some authors have advocated a moratorium on their use, believing that the risks outweigh the benefits. (see Connors, A. F. Jr., M.D., et. al., The Effectiveness of Right Heart Catherization in the Initial Care of the Critically Ill Patients, J. Amer. Med. Assn., 1996; 276:889–897; Dalen, J. E., Bone R. C.: Is It Time to Pull the Pulmonary Catheter? J. Amer. Med. Assn., 1996; 276:916–8). 2-D transesophageal echocardiography devices are prohibitively expensive. They also require specialized image interpretation skills. They are still minimally invasive. Likewise, the methods of Nuclear Medicine are expensive, requiring a cyclotron to produce specialized radiopharmaceuticals and specialized image interpretation skills. Moreover, Nuclear Ejection Fractions cannot be done continuously and in real time. They can be used to assess baseline cardiac function. They cannot be used to titrate fluid therapy and drug infusions from moment to moment.
Newer technologies have emerged such as the Hemosonic device from Arrow International (see Klein, G., M.D., Emmerich, M., M.D., Clinical Evaluation of Non-invasive Monitoring Aortic Blood Flow, (ABF) by a Transesophageal Echo-Doppler-Device. Anesthesiology 1998; V89 No. 3A: A953). This minimally invasive device uses a trans-esophageal Doppler placed in the esophagus and one-dimensional A-mode echocardiograph. The Doppler measures velocity of blood in the descending aorta while the A-mode ultrasound is used to measure the descending aortic diameter in real time. Integrating blood velocity times aortic diameter over the ejection interval gives the stroke volume. Stroke volume times heartrate gives cardiac output. Dividing cardiac output into the Mean Arterial Pressure gives Systemic Vascular Resistance. Measuring peak blood acceleration gives Contractility. Because the device measures blood flow in the descending aorta, it ignores blood flow to the head and both arms. Thus, it ignores about 30% of the total cardiac output and cannot measure Preload. Because the device sits in the thoracic esophagus, it cannot be used on people who are awake.
If it were possible to approximate Preload, Afterload, and Contractility using non-invasive means or equipment which is already ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive, then many more patients on whom invasive monitors and 2D echocardiography devices are not currently used, could benefit from hemodynamic monitoring without its high costs and high risks. This possibility includes many pediatric patients, renal patients, pregnant patients, and cardiac patients presenting for non-cardiac surgery. The above described non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring on a beat-to-beat basis would represent a great improvement in the state of the art, resulting in significant reductions in the cost of care and in perioperative morbidity.
There is a need for a low-cost, low risk, non-invasive metric against which a wide array of cardiovascular support drug administrations and infusions can be adjusted, in order to optimize the condition of patients with a wide variety of cardiovascular medical conditions, within the constraints of said conditions and illnesses. Because of its low-cost, low-risk character, it should render possible the non-invasive clinical monitoring of a wide range of cardiovascular illness, in the operating room and intensive care unit, and also from locations outside the traditional operating room theater and critical care units. It should allow clinicians to pinpoint and quantify the component causes of acute decompensations in chronic cardiovascular illness, and to use this information to modify therapy in such a way as to prevent frequent, costly hospitalization.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide apparatuses and methods for continuously and accurately providing real-time information relating to cardiac output in the form of volume blood flow based upon non-invasive measurements. There is also a need to provide apparatuses and associated methods for monitoring cardiac output which results in a reduced likelihood of an undetected catastrophic event. Additionally, there is a need to provide a method for monitoring cardiac output in which the risk of infection is eliminated or significantly reduced.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide devices and methods for detecting, assessing the cardiac timing of, grading, and diagnosing a variety of vascular and arrythmia conditions.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide devices and methods for non-invasively monitoring the hemodynamic state of a patient and providing approximate information on the Preload, Afterload and Contractility.
It is to be noted that the scope of this invention is not simply in the sphere of anesthesia, but in the totality of medicine, including outpatient, ambulatory, and critical care medicine. For example, it solves the problem of optimizing fluid administration and the use of diuretics and inotropes (like digitalis) and afterload reducers, like the vasodilator Captopril, in patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Too little fluid, and the cardiac output becomes insufficient to perfuse vital organs like the brain, heart, and kidney, resulting in organ failure and death. Too much fluid, and the pumping capacity of the compromised left heart is overwhelmed, allowing fluid to back up into the lungs, causing a diffusion barrier to oxygenation. Fluid welling up in the lungs effectively causes the patient to drown. In this circumstance, patients need to be hospitalized, intubated, and ventilated in an ICU. By adjusting the diuretic dose against the Preload, or its analogue, and by adjusting the Digitalis dose against the contractility, and adjusting the Captopril dose against the SVR or its analogue, you can keep someone with CHF out of the hospital for longer periods of time, saving both money and grief.